Intentions to Marry, 1926 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840541, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1926f contains pages 2223-2768, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2399

District of Reefton Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar [illegible]

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

1 October 1926

Hubert Onslow Cneal
Ettie Frances Olsen

Hubert Onslow Ernest Foreman
Ettie Frances Olsen
💍 1926/9022

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22 years
23 years

Reefton
Reefton

4 1/2 years
18 years

Mrs. H. Bank's Private Residence, Church Street, Reefton

10319

1 October 1926

Rev. J. Kirk, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	1 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Onslow Cneal	Ettie Frances Olsen
BDM Match (80%)	Hubert Onslow Ernest Foreman	Ettie Frances Olsen
	💍 1926/9022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. H. Bank's Private Residence, Church Street, Reefton
Folio	10319
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kirk, Presbyterian

30 October 1926

George Miller Cutbush
Margaret Isabel Macdonald

George Miller Cutbush
Margaret Isabel Macdonald
💍 1926/9024

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22 years
20 years

Reefton
Reefton

11 years
2 years

Knox Presbyterian Church, Reefton

10320

James Brown Macdonald, Father

30 October 1926

Rev. J. Kirk, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	30 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Miller Cutbush	Margaret Isabel Macdonald
	💍 1926/9024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	11 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church, Reefton
Folio	10320
Consent	James Brown Macdonald, Father
Date of Certificate	30 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kirk, Presbyterian

28 November 1926

Rupert Stanley Avery
Florence Alexandra Pascoe

Rupert Stanley Avery
Florence Alexandra Pascoe
💍 1926/9025

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Laundress

29 years
24 years

Reefton
Black's Point

22 years
21 years

Methodist Church, Shiel Street, Reefton

10321

28 November 1926

Rev. Cyril Robinson, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	28 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Stanley Avery	Florence Alexandra Pascoe
	💍 1926/9025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Laundress
Age	29 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Black's Point
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Shiel Street, Reefton
Folio	10321
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Cyril Robinson, Methodist

11 December 1926

Bertram Lealand Waghorn
Georgina Mary Lawson

Bertram Lealand Waghorn
Georgina Mary Lawson
💍 1926/9026

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Postmistress

20 years
21 years

Inangahua Landing
Cronadun

3 1/2 years
Life

St. Stephen's Church, Reefton

10322

Eva Rose Waghorn, Mother

11 December 1926

Rev. J. W. Bloyee, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	11 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Lealand Waghorn	Georgina Mary Lawson
	💍 1926/9026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Postmistress
Age	20 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Inangahua Landing	Cronadun
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Reefton
Folio	10322
Consent	Eva Rose Waghorn, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Bloyee, Anglican

17 December 1926

Robert Maitland Banks
Hannah Harriet Eva Murcott

Robert Maitland Banks
Hannah Harriet Eva Murcott
💍 1926/9027

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

32 years
20 years

Rotokohu
Rotokohu

Life
Life

Anglican Church, Reefton

10323

Charles Thomas William Murcott, Father

17 December 1926

Rev. J. W. Bloyee, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	17 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Maitland Banks	Hannah Harriet Eva Murcott
	💍 1926/9027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	32 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Rotokohu	Rotokohu
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Reefton
Folio	10323
Consent	Charles Thomas William Murcott, Father
Date of Certificate	17 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Bloyee, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).